Incendiarism
by Sethoz
Summary: Pyro has been found by the X-men. However he has a secret which could very well kill him and everyone he cares about. Can he trust them before he looses control? -Fin.- It's all over... but has John won or has he been lost forever?
1. Old Friends

Disclaimer: This is my first X-men fic ever. The plot's been brewing in my mind for a while now, I hope it's all right. There is an original character in it, but she is not a love interest and I hope to God she is not a Mary-Sue. If there is any romance then it will be Pyro/Rogue. Sorry.  
  
Please read then review.  
  
~~~  
  
Incendiarism.  
  
~~~  
  
Part 1:- Old friends.  
  
The team of four mutants walked through the deserted laboratory, talking in whispers to each other, each on the look out for any possible danger.  
  
"Professor X said the serum should be two doors down." Storm said, her eyes darting this way and that. Bobby and Rogue looked at each other.  
  
"Why do we need this serum though?" Bobby asked, his hand tightly holding Rogue's gloved one. Rogue looked down at the hand and gently removed it, a sad smile on her face. Bobby blushed as he realized what he had done. It was the fourth member of the group, Scott Summers who answered Bobby's question.  
  
"We don't. However we know Magneto does for some reason." The group fell silent at the mention of the leader of the brotherhood. Quietly they moved to the door Storm had said and opened it. Inside, the room was in utter darkness. As one, the four moved down the room, heading for the cupboards at the back. They were nearly there was the door slid open again.  
  
"My, my, what have we here?" The four X-men spun around. There stood Magneto, next to him was a young girl with blond hair.   
  
"Spark. Go and watch the door, I'll deal with these four." Magneto ordered. The blond haired mutant nodded and turned around, walking out of the door. Magneto smiled.  
  
"I wouldn't try and get past her if I were you. Her powers are quite strong." he said. For a few seconds there was complete and utter silence. Then Storm flew into action. She raised her hands, calling up a strong wind. Before she had chance to let it loose on Magneto a large piece of metal came flying out of nowhere, pinning her to the wall. Magneto shook his head. While Magneto's attention was fixed on Storm and Cyclops, Rogue moved slowly to the biggest cupboard and opened it. There resting in a test tube rack was a tube labeled 'serum P'. Rogue grabbed it, pushing it into her pocket.  
  
"Don't you people learn?" Magneto asked, in mock surprise. "Oh, by the way Mr. Summers, I would advise you to close your eyes, unless you want to fry your friends that is." With one swift movement he lifted up his hand, pulling Scott's visor away from him. Then he too was pinned to the wall, facing Storm. Magneto smiled.  
  
"Well, that just leaves you two young people doesn't it?" Rogue and Bobby backed away, unsure of what to do. They had just seen two of the most powerful mutants in their school taken out as it they were mere bugs. Magneto lifted his hand up, ten metal nails floating in front of him.  
  
"Time to say night, night." Magneto smirked, sending the nail's at Rogue. They flew through the air, straight for her. Bobby sent out a ray of ice, but it didn't stop them, only coated them. They were almost at Rogue, when, our of thin air it seemed, a blast of fire rushed past Rogue's face, melting the nails.   
  
From the shadow's, his hand still outstretched walked Pyro. Magneto turned to the door and roared.  
  
"I told you to watch the door!" Suddenly the girl known as Spark was standing next to Pyro.  
  
"I do as John says, not you." Spark said, her eyes betraying nothing. Pyro simply stood there, his right hand holding a flame, which danced over his finger tips.  
  
"What's is to be?" Pyro asked, lazily flicking odd bit's of fire over the room. In answer Magneto sent a large block of metal heading his way. At the last second Spark stepped next to Pyro, grabbed his hand and teleported to a clear space next to Bobby and Rogue.  
  
"Bobby man. Rogue. Good to see you." Pyro said, a smirk on his face. "This is my friend, Spark. She's a teleporter - amongst other things." The two simply stared at him, in shock. Pyro turned to Spark, his face serious.  
  
"Get them all out. Start with Scott, make sure you grab his visor on the way." he hissed, careful to keep his voice low, so that Magneto would not be able to hear them. Spark nodded. Pyro smiled at Magneto, a large, slightly sinister smile. It was as if he knew something that Magneto didn't.  
  
"Burn for me." Pyro stated, fire's springing up all around the lab, trapping Magneto in one corner. For a whole minute, the two simple stared at each other, before the fight began again, this time in ernest.  
  
Outside in the cold night air the four X-men could only watch as the building went up in flames. The girl known as Spark stood next to them, fidgeting There was a loud bang, followed by a sudden increase of fire. Spark screamed.  
  
"John!" she cried, moving forward. Bobby grabbed her.  
  
"He'll be fine."  
  
"He's in pain. John!" she screamed before teleporting out of the boy's grasp. For a few seconds nothing happened. Then out of nowhere, Spark reappeared, holding the battered and bloody body of John. Rogue moved forward, only to find John and Spark were no longer in front of her. Spark held John's body protectively, her eyes darting over the X-men, as if she feared they would attack him.  
  
"...couldn't stop him..." John muttered, looking at Spark. "...He... took... it."   
  
"I managed to grab serum 'P'." Rogue said. "Isn't that what he was after?" Spark shook her head, her mind occupied with keeping John awake.  
  
"Spark." Storm said. "Let us help him." Spark looked from the X-men and then back at Pyro for a few seconds before nodding her head once. She followed the X-men, holding Pyro and teleoporting every few feet to save both Pyro and herself the effort of having to walk.   
  
She eyed the other mutants with distrust, having heard a lot about them from Pyro. She would have been prepared to trust them, like them even if it hadn't been for one rudimentary fact.  
  
Pyro hadn't told any of them his secret. Not even there leader. And if Pyro couldn't tell them, couldn't trust them with his secret how could she, Spark, trust them at all? She looked at Pyro, still fighting to stay awake with sudden fear.   
  
"What if they find out?" she didn't know the words had come out of her mouth until Pyro lifted his battered head to look at her.  
  
"Then we'll deal with that when it happens." he said. Spark nodded and teleoported again, catching up with the X-men.  
  
Little did they know that Pyro's secret was about to be reveled with a vengeance and that it could very well cost him his life...  
  
TBC...  
  
There you have it, what did you think of it as a first part? Now that you've read, please leave a review!  
  
~Sethoz 


	2. The Truth Will Out

Disclaimer: My second part! Hope you are all enjoying this. I own nothing bar Spark and the plot. I'm thinking this will become a John/Marie, what do you lot out there think?  
  
Please, please read then review!  
  
Incendiarism.  
  
Part 2:- The Truth Will Out.  
  
The flight back to the mansion was taking way to long for Spark's liking. She sat by John, who lay spawned full length on the seats in the back, having slipping into a restless slumber a few minutes before. She let her gaze wander away from John's body and over to where Rogue and Bobby sat.  
  
"Are you two still going out with each other?" she asked suddenly, braking the quiet that had settled between them. Rogue and Bobby looked at each other then at Spark in amazement.  
  
"Sorry." Spark said, blushing slightly. "It's just that John has said so much about you that I feel like I know you."  
  
"I suppose John told Magneto everything too." Bobby said harshly, ignoring the question for the time being. Spark shook her head, a smile curling on her top lip.  
  
"No, not really. He wouldn't tell Magneto a thing. It made Magneto very angry..." she trailed off, shivering slightly at the memory. Bobby and Rogue exchanged confused glances, why wouldn't John tell his new ally everything he knew? There was no time to ask this though, as the plane reached the mansion.  
  
~~~  
  
Once inside, there had been a hive of activity. John had been whisked off to the medical center, Spark close behind. The other four had headed up to Professor X to tell him what had happened. Rogue placed the serum 'P' down on the table in front of him. Professor X looked slightly worried.  
  
"He wasn't after this after all?" he asked, his eyebrows drawn together. Rogue shook her head.   
  
"Why did you think Magneto wanted this Professor?" Scott asked, his voice and body unreadable as always.  
  
Rogue had always thought it was because you couldn't see Scott's eyes. Eyes told you so much about the person, that without them you had no indication of what that person was really like.   
  
Take Bobby for instance. Form the moment she'd seen him, looking into his blue eyes, she had know that this was a person you could be safe with. It was only after they had been dating for a few months that Rogue saw the ice in his eyes. It made sense really, after all Bobby's power was ice. Bobby was so cold, too cold, though he himself, had no idea of that.  
  
John on the other had had fire in his eyes. When she had first seen him they had sparked with danger and the warning that if you got too close to him you could get burned. So she had chosen the safe guy. So why did her heart brake when she found out John had left. And why did she feel angry when ever she thought of John and Spark standing next to each other? Rogue shook herself out of her confusing thought and focused what was going on in front of her.  
  
"I had been informed that this was what he was after by... a friend." The Professor said.   
  
"We really thought he was after the serum." a voice said from the doorway. Spark stood there, her eyes fixed on The Professor.  
  
"As we were flying to the lab, Magneto found out about something else, something more important than Serum P."  
  
"It was you, wasn't it?" Bobby said in amazement. "It was you who told The Professor about the serum."   
  
"Not me." Spark said, brushing her blonde hair out of the way of her face. "John. We were members of the brotherhood and it was our choice but he was still loyal to the X-men. If there was ever a plan to hurt you he managed to send warning to Baldie." she glared at The Professor as if daring him to take issue with her name for him.  
  
"If John was loyal to us he should never have joined the brotherhood." Rogue said.  
  
"You just don't get it do you." Spark snapped. "John didn't want to join the brotherhood he-" she stopped suddenly, as if she had been on the verge of reveling a great secret.  
  
"Why did you join the brotherhood?" The Professor asked. Spark flashed a grin at him.  
  
"You tell me." she tilted her head to the right. "Oh that's right, you can't. Tough brake."  
  
"What? Professor what does she mean?" Scott asked. The Professor kept his eyes on Spark as he answered.  
  
"She appears to have some sort of mental block on her mind that protects her from me."  
  
"Lucky me." Spark murmured.  
  
"It feels..." Professor X carried on as if she had never spoken.  
  
"Familiar?" Spark asked. "It should." the smile dropped from her face, to be replaced by a snarl. "It's the same block that's on part of John's mind. Do you have any idea what you almost did with your killing all the mutants stunt?" she yelled, her voice reaching fever pitch. Bobby had followed the conversation with a puzzled look on his face.  
  
"John can't have some sort of mind block. It would require a powerful telepath to create that and John doesn't have that power." he looked back and forth between The Professor and Spark, only to find that Spark had gone.  
  
"Where did she go?" Storm said. The next second she had returned, John by her side.  
  
" -an they know about the mind block!" John was yelling. He was clean now, the blood washed off his face, the buries treated with some kind of cream. His left arm was in a sling. He looked round at the five mutants staring at them before narrowing his eyes and looking back at the teleoprter in front of him.  
  
"What have I said about teleporting while someone is talking?" Spark shrugged, completely nonplussed by the anger radiating from her friend.  
  
"Deal."  
  
"Fine." he slumped down on a empty seat. Taking out his liter he began to flick it open and close, a habit he had never managed to out grow.  
  
Click... Click... Click...  
  
"The mind block is artificial." John said.   
  
"The thing Magneto took was files detailing every sick thing that happened at that lab in the past twenty years." Spark jumped in with.  
  
Click... Click... Click...  
  
"We knew that we had to stop Magneto getting those files so it meant fighting him and in effect helping you." Spark continued.   
  
"What was going on in that lab that was so important to you?" Rogue asked. John had been watching Professor X ever since he had sat down.  
  
"It was a lab used for experiments." John began slowly. "Experiments on mutants. A lab that The Professor knew about."  
  
Click... Click... Click...  
  
"I don't understand." Bobby said. Spark rolled her eyes.  
  
"Honestly you can be so dumb! John and I have artificial mind blocks, we know about the lab, we wanted to prevent the files reaching Magneto. Put it together boy."  
  
Click... Click... Click...  
  
"You mean..." Storm started, a horrific idea coming to her. John snapped his lighter shut and stood up.  
  
"We were experimented on."  
  
~~~  
  
Magneto flicked through the burnt files, cursing under his breath at the idiotic boy who had done so much damage. There were only a few files that had survived the burning intact and most of them dealt with mutants that hadn't survived what had been done to them. Magneto was about to throw the whole lot away in disgust when a half burnt file caught his eye. Maybe this wasn't such a loss after all. Maybe he could use this to his advantage. To be more precise it was the name at the top that caught his eye.  
  
"Allardyce, St. John"  
  
Magneto smiled as he looked at the photo under the name. The boy may have been only ten but there was no mistaking the glare and face. A young Pyro stared defiantly back at him from the photo...  
  
TBC...  
  
Well, there it was, the second part. Now the more reviews I get the faster I'll up-date this story so please leave a review!  
  
~Sethoz 


	3. Unleashed!

Disclaimer: Here we have it, part 3! I don't own X-Men. Boo-Hoo. Boo freaking Hoo. (Sorry, channeling Dr. Evil.) The only thing I own is Spark. Please leave a review, once you've read it!   
  
Incendiarism.  
  
Part 3:- Unleashed.  
  
"Mama! Mama!" the little 9 year old ran into the living room, her blonde pigtails flying wildly around her face. Her mother looked up from the book she was reading.  
  
"Yasmin? What's wrong?" she asked. Yasmin skidded to a stop and regarded her mother with a trusting glance.  
  
"Mama... why am I different?" she asked innocently. Her mother's heart went out to the little girl who looked at her with such childlike trust.  
  
"Oh, honey." she sighed, drawling the girl onto her lap. "What happened?"  
  
"John was nasty to me. He laughed at me and said I was a freak."  
  
"Don't you listen to him honey, you know he doesn't really mean that. John is your friend. It's just his dad, Yasmin, that makes him say things like that." Yasmin sucked on the end of her pigtail, thinking deeply about what her mama had said.  
  
"You mean... like when Daddy tells me to say things and I do. Is that what John did?" Her mother nodded. Yasmin's face lit up in a brilliant smile.  
  
"That means me and John are still friends!" she said, the joy evident on her face. "Can I go and see him?"  
  
"Honey, not right now." her mother said. At the pout on her daughters face she sighed. "Yasmin, think about this. If John's dad made him say all those things then John's dad won't let you play with him. You go to your room and if I see him go past, I'll invite him in. Okay?"  
  
"Okay Mama." Yasmin said, climbing off her lap and moving out of the room. At the doorway she paused and looked back sadly.  
  
"I am different though." As Yasmin went to her room, her father entered by the back door. His normally cheerful expression vanished as he noticed his wife.  
  
"Dolly, what's wrong?"  
  
"I don't like using Yasmin this way Peter. She's our daughter!" The woman known as Dolly glared at her husband. He rubbed at his temples.  
  
"Dolly. You know it's only a matter of time now before his powers explode on him. With parents like that, John's going to need us. We'll not really using Yasmin, she and John are good friends anyway. You removed the mind nudge after a few days and they both stayed friends because they both wanted to." he idly played with a dead light bulb. Dolly lifted up her hand and floated the bulb away from him.  
  
"Peter, we'll a family of mutants, living in one of the most anti-mutant towns there is. What happens when Yasmin looses her temper and forgets the only rule of the house? What happens when she uses her power?"  
  
"Don't worry, I can control electricity much better than she can and you have telepathy. If anything happens, we'll fix it." Peter moved up behind Dolly and wrapped his arms around her belly. Dolly lent into his embrace.   
  
Suddenly, there was a thump from upstairs, followed by a long, high scream. Dolly was already half way up, Peter close behind her before the scream had stopped. She burst into Yasmin's room to see the young girl standing bolt upright in the middle of the floor, her eyes wide, the pupils as large as they could be.  
  
"Yasmin! What's wrong?" Dolly asked.   
  
"Fire... fear... John..." Yasmin said in a dreamy voice. She blinked once or twice then looked at her parents with a big smile.  
  
"Daddy! You'll home!" she cried, throwing her arms round her dad. Over her head Dolly and Peter exchanged glances. Yasmin seemed to have no memory of what had just happened.  
  
"Yasmin... would you like a friend to come over?" Dolly asked. Emerald eyes stared at her for a few seconds.  
  
"Can John come over and stay the night? Please??" she begged, the pervious dissuasion about why she couldn't play with John seemingly forgotten. Dolly smiled.  
  
"I'll go and see. You tidy up."  
  
Outside of there house Dolly and Peter began to run, heading for where John lived, each trusting a gut feeling they both had.  
  
//Good idea to give Yasmin a mind nuge.\\ Peter thought, hoping his wife would pick it up. From the glare she gave him, it was clear that she did.  
  
//I didn't. She chose John by herself.\\ By then they had reached the gate that opened onto the building where John lived. All the front lights were off, clothing the house in darkness. The cool breeze of the night floated gently around them, creating a sense of peace. Dolly however, knew differently. The air around them sparked with tension and fear. She knew something was going to happen. If a few seconds she found out.  
  
The entire house suddenly became engulfed in a giant flame ball. The heat was so intense that Dolly and Peter couldn't get anywhere near it. A gap appeared in the flames, just wide enough for two people to come out. Or rather for one person to come out, caring the other. John's father staggered towards Dolly and Peter, his wife in his arms.  
  
"Oh my God! Where's John?" Dolly asked franticly, while trying to see if Mrs. Allardyce was still breathing."  
  
"I don't know and I don't care." Mr. Allardyce said, his words slightly slurred. At the back of the house stood a ten year old boy, fighting back tears. He was covered in soot and there were flames licking at his feet. Without a word he watched as his house burned to the ground, unaffected by the heat. In his hand he held the only thing he had managed to save from the infernal, a silver lighter.  
  
~~~  
  
~The Present.~  
  
"That's enough." John said quietly, flicking his lighter on and off. There was an awkward quiet as they all thought about what Spark had just told them.  
  
"Why are you called Spark?" Rogue asked, trying to banish from her mind the thought of John burning his house down.  
  
"My natural mutant gift is to control electricity. But after the experiments the scientists decided to give me teloprting power. They were unable to remove my natural gift but they made it so hard to use... I still keep my nick name."  
  
"After the fire I was thrown out of my house." John said, carrying on with the story as if he hadn't heard Rogue and Spark, seeming to forget that he had wanted the story to stop.  
  
"My parents took him in... then a month later..." Spark added, her eyes watering.  
  
"They came." John finished.  
  
"Who?" asked Bobby.  
  
"The military." spat out Spark, her body shaking.  
  
"They swept though the town so fast. Killing every adult mutant there was and every suspected adult mutant including Spark's parents. They rounded up the mutant kids and took them away. Most of us died after the first batch of experiments. Those who didn't... well, we soon wished we had." John said, the lighter held tightly in his hand. Everyone's attention - even Professor Xavier's - was focused on the two teens. Which meant that they had no warning.  
  
The blast sent the whole room into darkness. There was a few clicks then a flame appeared from John's lighter, the little bit of light casting an eery glow on his face, making him look like a completely different person. Bobby could have sworn he was seeing things but was it just him or did John's eyes slant in a way that they didn't before?  
  
And was John's hair always that shade?  
  
"Erik." Xavier said. The other's looked around, each trying to mask the varying degrees of fear they felt. Magneto was outside somewhere and from the sound of it, he was angry.  
  
The second blast sent all the mutants flying. Spark was holding on to the sleeve of John at the time so they both went flying in the same direction. Which happened to be right towards a wall.  
  
Spark teleoprted at the last moment, taking John with her. As if it was a sign, all the others ran to the door and piled out, trying to work out what to do. There was no sign of either teenager in the hall outside. Rogue looked up at the light burning brightly above her, glad that the first blast had just knocked out the lights in the Professors room.  
  
The third blast knocked out all the lights. The only sound was that of Scott, breathing loudly.  
  
That and the braking of glass some where in the building...  
  
TBC...  
  
There you have it, the next part of my fic!   
  
Thanks to all my reviewers; Pyro-Fan, FireStarter8, RogueCajun, dstrbd child, DarkPrincessPyro99, buffyangelus1, chattypandagurl, X3 and LaytonColt.  
  
You guys rock!  
  
I saw Spy Kids 3D recently! Well worth watching for the Elijah Wood part alone. Had to be the funniest thing I've ever saw.  
  
"Cake" hee, hee.  
  
Thought I only went to see it 'cos Alan Cumming was in it. Anyhow please leave a review.  
  
Pretty please!  
  
~Sethoz 


	4. Interlude in Darkness

Disclaimer: Here you have it, the next part of my first X-Men fic. I'm so excited. This chapter has quite a few hints at pairings. There is mention of the Scott/Jean/Logan love triangle, small hints at Storm/Nightcrawler and brief thoughts on Bobby/Rogue.  
  
Oh year, Kurt has a German accent, I know but I can't write German accents so apart from his 'Ja', the words are just written. Just add accent as you read him, 'Kay?  
  
I don't own X-Men: The Movie or any of the characters (*cries*) They belong to someone... who's not me. All I own is Spark.   
  
Incendiarism.   
  
Part 4:- Interlude in Darkness.  
  
When they heard the glass braking somewhere in the building, the X-Men had all split up. They didn't know that that was what they had done. Each thought at least one other was with them. It came a shock to find that they were alone.  
  
The Professor headed straight for Cerebro, knowing the way in the dark as easy as if the corridors were bathed in warm, bright sunlight. While on the outside his face looked as calm as it always did, inside he was deeply troubled. John was radiating pain and anger. There was something else he could feel from John's mind, something alien but whenever he tried to focus on the feeling and John's mind, the alien something slipped from his grasp, as elusive as a dream.  
  
He had failed John. He knew from the moment the scared 13 year old and found his way to the school wall before falling to the dirt that he would be a spacial case. The boy had been too weak to get any further and probably would have lain there for most of the day if he hadn't managed to send a fire into the grounds, alerting Professor X, that there was someone out there.   
  
(Incidentally the fire had landed on Bobby, setting his hair on fire. At that time he didn't have full control over his powers and in an attempt to put it out had accidentally froze his hair so it was rock solid.)  
  
It had been Jean who had found him. She had headed straight for the place the fire had come from on Xavier's orders. John lay on his back, his leg at a un-natural angle, his breathing shallow. There had been bruises on him. When John had been healed he refused to talk about his condition he had been found in. The memories had been locked away in that little pocket of his mind and foolishly Xavier hadn't tried to find out after the initial refusal.  
  
How could be have been so blind?  
  
~~~  
  
Bobby inched his way along the wall, feeling the air in front of him to make sure there was nothing in his way. After a short time he came to the end of the wall. There was now two ways he could go. The question was should he head right or left?  
  
Bobby had read somewhere that in mazes you should always keep your hand on the wall and turn left at every chance you had. He knew this wasn't the same thing but at least it was a system. As he slowly moved along the corridor he let his mind wander. His thoughts turned - as they had so often during the past few hours - to John Allardyce, his one time best friend.  
  
He wondered, as he usually did in the recent hours how well he knew John, really. John had never talked about his home life, never talked about anything that had happened to him before joining the X-Men. Bobby had already been at the school when John had been found, badly injured. Bobby has simply assumed that his friend had run away from home and got into some sort of fight, being the hot headed guy he was. He never asked John about that day or any other day.  
  
It was an unspoken rule at the mansion that if a mutant didn't talk about there home life then you didn't ask.  
  
The real question was did he trust John? After everything that had happened to both of them, could there friendship be mended or not?   
  
Ahead of him he could just make out a shadow. He paused, holding his breath as he strained his eyes, trying to make out the person in front of him. For a few tense seconds he wasn't even sure that there was a person there or if it was only his eyes playing tricks on him.   
  
Then the shadow moved. Where before, it had been crouched as if it was hiding from something, now it was standing tall. Bobby lunged forward, sending ice towards the person. He didn't send enough to freeze them or even to discomfort them really. It was just enough to make them turn around, so that Bobby could see which member of the brotherhood it was.  
  
Also he didn't want to freeze someone on his own side. The shadow gave a yelp, a yelp that Bobby would know anywhere...  
  
"Rogue?" he said in surprise. It was indeed the female mutant.  
  
"Bobby? Where is everyone?" she asked, idly rubbing at her right black glove. Bobby shrugged his shoulders, a clear indication that he had no idea. Rogue smiled seductively up to him.  
  
"Now that we'll alone..." she whispered, wiggling her hips and gazing into his eyes. "Why don't we have some... fun." Bobby swallowed heavily.  
  
"O-Okay..." he stuttered. Rogue smiled at him, grasping his hand and leading him towards a deserted classroom.   
  
"What's that?" Bobby gasped, pointing at a shadow behind Rogue. He let got of her hand in shock. The youngster spun round, her eyes scanning the darkness. Bobby reached to the left of him and slowly picked up the vase that was standing on a little table. He lifted it high in the air, then brought it down on Rogue's head as she turned back to him.   
  
The mutant swayed slightly, her expression one of bewilderment. She took a shaky step towards him, the confused expression changing to one of anger. Bobby sent shards of ice at her, again and again. Rogue swung out an arm and knocked them away from her. She jumped forward, sending Bobby flying to the ground. Rogue pinned the young mutant down before changing color and appearance, becoming Mystique again.  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"Rogue and I split up." Bobby spat. "That's how I knew you weren't really her." his answer seemed to amuse the blue skinned woman. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear.  
  
"We would have had some fun before I had to knock you out. You would have been able to touch her skin. Are you still glad you found me out?" Iceman simply glared at her and continued to struggle. The smirk on Mystique's face faded to be replaced by a frown.  
  
"Fine. Have it you way." she looked at him. "I guess your girlfriend wants a real m-" Mystique stopped, her eyes widening. Slowly she fell forward onto Bobby. Rogue stood over then both, a gold candlestick from the Professors room in her hands.  
  
"It was Rogue with the candlestick in the hall." Bobby joked, trying to make light of the situation. Rouge gave the still body of Mystique a long hard look.  
  
"At last, I thought she was never going to shut up." Rogue said, dropping the candlestick. "Bobby are you okay?" Iceman sat up with a groan, pushing the dead weight of Mystique off him.  
  
"I'm fine, let's tie her up before she wakes up." Together they managed to drag the limp body into a room, feeling the way by there hands. They were forced to just lock her in the room. Bobby and Rogue weren't stupid enough to seriously think that the door would hold her but it might buy them time.   
  
"We have to find John and Spark." Rogue suddenly said. Bobby looked over to where her face must have been, though in the darkness it was impossible to see her features.  
  
"I just have this feeling that something bad is happening." Rogue added. Bobby nodded before remembering that she couldn't see in the dark.  
  
"I know..."  
  
~~~  
  
Wolverine had been having a good dream. Jean was in it. Not that it was odd for Wolverine to have a dream about Jean - he had dreams about her nearly every night. What made this dream so special was that instead of seeing Jean's final moments played over and over again, he was dreaming about him and Jean together, happy. Scott had gone, the war against mutants was over and he and Jean were living a normal life. Jean had just moved in to kiss him when the first blast struck the building.  
  
Magneto had the worst timing in the world. Wolverine jumped out his bed and moved out into the corridor, all too aware of the similarly between this and what had happened before - with Stryker.   
  
"Wolverine?" a voice echoed fearfully out of the darkness. Wolverine sniffed the air, until he was satisfied it was indeed who it sounded like.  
  
"Storm? What's going on?"   
  
"Magneto. He's attacking for some reason. Then we lost John and Spark, then the lights, then each other-"  
  
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. John? As in that punk Pyro? And who's this Spark?"  
  
"Okay, quick version. John's good now, Spark is his friend." Storm said. Wolverine considered this then deiced to simply accept it until there was time to get a fuller version. The Wolverine lead the way, Storm close behind him.   
  
"We have to find Kurt!" hissed Storm. Wolverine smiled at her, though he knew that she couldn't see.  
  
"Only Kurt?" he asked. He could almost see the woman blush and hear her heart rate speed up. Wolverine was glad that she had found someone, after didn't something deserve to go right in this blasted mansion? There was the whole Bobby/Rogue brake up and of course there was the Jean saga. So it was nice that Storm and Kurt were in love. The only question of course was if they both knew it yet.  
  
"Of course not only Kurt! We have to find everyone, including John and Spark, they may be able to tell us why Magneto is attacking." Wolverine continued to smile, a bittersweet smile as he and Storm set off down the corridor.  
  
~~~  
  
Cyclops at least had an excuse for getting separated from the rest of the X-Men. He had needed to get a new visor to fight Magneto after the last one had been mangled beyond repair. He was now armed and dangerous, ready to do battle when the need arose. He was always like that now. What reasons were there for him to be any different? Why should he allow himself to be soft? Someday, someday he knew that he would have to let go of Jean and move on.  
  
Just not yet.  
  
Scott found himself near the room where Kurt lived. He moved forward, his hands reaching out, feeling for rough wood under his hands. Instead they came into contact with cool skin. Skin that Scott could sworn wasn't there a moment ago.  
  
"Nightcrawler?"  
  
"Ja? What is going on?" Kurt asked in a stage whisper. In a few short sentences Scott filled the German in on the situation. The blue mutant grasped his rosary when he heard how John and the other mutant had been experimented on.  
  
"It explains a lot." Kurt said brightly. Scott frowned but refrained from saying anything. Instead he began to move ever so slowly in the direction he knew Cerebro was. If he knew the Professor at all, then that was where he would be. Kurt shrugged his shoulders and began to follow Scott, not knowing what else to do.  
  
~~~  
  
In the end it was Bobby and Rogue who came across Spark. She was completely out cold, slumped over a flower pot. Bobby began to try and wake up her, while Rogue looked inside the nearby rooms for John.  
  
"Guhhh..." mumbled Spark, batting feebly at Bobby's hand that was trying to rouse her. She opened her eyes slowly and groaned.  
  
"Uhg... Did anyone get the number plate of the bus that just ran me down?" she muttered, holding her head with her hands. Rogue came out of the room she had been looking in, a bit of white fabric in her hands.  
  
On closer inspection the fabric turned out to be the sling that had been on John's left arm. Rogue held it up by the edge and the sling spread out, reveling a number burnt onto the white.  
  
"1612? What does that mean?" Bobby asked, totally mystified.  
  
"It means we'll in a lot of trouble." Spark answered...  
  
TBC...  
  
Thanks for taking the time to read this part. Please, please leave a review and tell me what you think of this!  
  
Until next time;  
  
~Sethoz 


	5. Mutant 1612

Disclaimer: Happy Birthday to me!!! To celebrate I've got the next chapter typed up and posted!   
  
I don't own X-Men: The Movie, any of the charters in said movie or ::sniff:: the actors who play the charters.... I do own Spark though.  
  
So come and read the next chapter; 'Attack of the evil numbers!!!'... no, that's not it. Anyway, please, please read and review.  
  
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and especially to 'Obiwanfan', 'Lady Moon3', 'starkeeper', 'chattypandagurl', 'firestarter', 'Fp/Nitecrawler' and 'X3' (Who is one of my all time favorite X-Men: The Movie writer, good fics! Read them!) who reviewed my last part.  
  
Please read!  
  
Incendiarism.  
  
Part 5:- Mutant #1612  
  
Spark refused to explain any more. After staring in shock and fear at the burnt number she grabbed the arms of the other two and began to drag them along the corridor.  
  
"We have to get out into the open." Spark hissed, her eyes darting all over the place, looking at every shadow. "We have to find people, we are safer in greater numbers."  
  
"Safe from what?" Rogue asked. Spark shook her head, her lips pressed tightly together.  
  
"Where's John?" Bobby demanded. "Did Magneto take him?" Spark stopped and stared at him, a look of amazement on her face before laughing. The laugh sent chills up Rogue and Bobby's spine. It was a cold laugh, as if the person was laughing at something terrible that only they could see. It was a laugh more commonly associated with people who then went insane.  
  
"If only it were that simple." she said bitterly. Rogue and Bobby exchanged looks before the female moved forward and placed a gloved hand on the other mutants arm.  
  
"I think you haven't told us everything." Rogue said. Spark blinked away some water that was forming in her eyes. She didn't want to tell them John's secret, she didn't want to have to think about those three long years. However she knew she would have to tell them something.  
  
"Do you know what Serum P is?" Spark asked. Bobby shook his head. "It is a terrible thing, it... it was the reason the laboratory was created. In time they had other mutant related projects but at first all of there energy was focused on creating serum P."  
  
"So what does it do?" Rogue asked.  
  
"You mean what did it do." Spark said, a flash of a smile on her face. "Serum P was contaminated when the laboratory was overthrown. All information on it was gone... all that is left is the contemned sample. Serum P identifies mutants before there powers show themselves. Can you imagine the damage it would do in the wrong hands?"  
  
"Wrong Yasmin." A voice floated out of the darkness. It had a high breathless quality to it, making it impossible to determine anything about the voice, not even the sex. The voice giggled, a high inane giggle.  
  
"Naughty, naughty Yasmin. Did you forget? The Eden Mutants know the info for Serum P." The voice faded away. Spark clenched her fists together, anger written all over her face.  
  
"Bobby, help me guard Rogue. It's her he wants. Otherwise he would have shone himself by now. He's planing with us, trying to get us off balance."  
  
"Who?" Rogue asked, as Bobby and Spark stood on either side of her. A shadow rushed past the window, temporary cutting out the only light source in the room they were in. Spark teleoported instantly to the place just after the window. She spun, expecting to met the body that caused the shadow, only to be met with darkness. The high giggle came again, echoing all over the room so that it was impossible to tell where it came from.  
  
"Have to do better than that Yasmin." it said. Spark's eyes flashed again as she teleopted back to stand next to Rogue.  
  
"You have no right to call me that." she said, focusing on the word 'You'. The voice giggled again, seemingly amused at her comment. Rogue was getting frustrated.  
  
"Spark, who is it?"   
  
"Yeah, Yasmin, come on tell them." the voice said, a giggle escaping at the end of the sentence. Spark ground her teeth together.  
  
"Rogue, Bobby that is Mutant #1612." she spat. There was a growl and the next second a blur sped past Rogue, hitting Spark in the chest. The attack took her completely by surprise, she had no time to teleport. Spark hit the wall and slumped down, out cold.  
  
"Twice in one hour." the voice said, the blur having retreated to the shadows. "I'm disappointed, I expected more from an Eden mutant." Rogue moved to run over to Spark, only to be held back as Bobby held onto her arm.  
  
"We have to stick together." he waned. There was a soft click behind them. Bobby spun round, his arm up, already sending ice. It was only that which saved Bobby from being burnt to a crisp. The other mutant had already sent a fire ball at him. The two powers collided, each canceling the other out. Mutant #1612 kicked, it's foot landing right in the middle of Bobby's stomach. Bobby fell to the ground with a groan. Another brutal kick knocked him out.   
  
"Hello Rogue, we meet at last." the mutant said, stepping forward so that she could see more than it's bare outline.  
  
"John?"  
  
"Oh, so near and yet so very, very far." he answered. Rogue took a step back, her eyes fixed on the boy who looked just like John. It fact, it was John, right down to the silver lighter he was holding in his hand.  
  
"John, what are you doing?"  
  
"That loser didn't know what he had with you." John growled, taking a step forward for every one Rogue took back.  
  
"John, you'll scaring me." Rogue said, looking behind her to see if either Spark or Bobby were awake yet. At that moment John pounced, grabbing Rogue by the waist and bringing her down to the ground. Rogue screamed as John's weight crashed onto her, there was a flurry of movement as she fought him, trying to get out from under him. They rolled across the floor each trying to get the upper hand. Then it was all over, John pinning Rogue to the floor in such a way that she couldn't move. John slowly moved forward, bending his head so that his face touched her hair.  
  
"You smell good." he whispered. The voice had changed from the high pitched one to a lower husky tone that sounded un-natural coming from John's mouth. Rogue whimpered slightly as John breathed deeply. She was terrified, this wasn't the John she knew.  
  
Then Spark was standing there, grabbing John by the shoulder and pulling him back. She grabbed his hand and placed it in her own.  
  
"Sorry Ash." Spark said grimly. "Pyro wins this round." Pyro and Spark's finger tightened, each holding on to the other for dear life. Pyro began to shake slightly as his mouth opened in a silent scream. Spark was standing absolutely still on the other hand, though her mouth too, had opened in a scream, however no sound came out. The two flew backwards, as if each had been thrown there. John hit the ground rolling. He spun round to face Spark and Rogue his eyes unfocused. Slowly they locked onto Rogue who was still lying on the floor. His eyes widened.  
  
"No..." he scooted backwards and curled up into a fetus position. Spark hit the ground on her front. She slowly stood up and dusted herself down.  
  
"You okay Rogue?" she asked. There was a groan as Bobby slowly came too.  
  
"I'm fine. What is going on?" Rogue demanded. Spark hesitated. "Spark." Rogue said slowly. "After what's just happened we deserve an answer." Spark sighed and looked over to where John was, still curled up and whimpering quietly to himself. He was in no state to decide, though it was his secret.  
  
"Fine." Spark said softly. "I'll tell you."  
  
Bobby and Rogue pulled themselves into commutable sitting positions as Spark looked off into the distance.  
  
"There was a secondary project in the lab. The plan was to use five mutants to wipe out any mutants that were found using serum P. They were called the Eden Mutants. I was one of them. There was a mutant called Alicia. She could control the wind. There was Neill, he could control plants. There was Lisa, who had water under her command, there was me (this was before they gave me teleoporting powers) and there was-"  
  
"John?" Bobby guessed. Spark shook her head.  
  
"No, the fire user was called Andrew. The scientists designed a mind block that besides stopping any mind reading could also be used to link the five of us together to fight as one. A few weeks into the project some thing happened. Andrew began to die. The scientists couldn't save his life but they didn't want to have to start again with another fire user as Andrew was nearly under there control. So they got the only other fire user they had and... and... and instated Andrew's memories into him."  
  
"T-they put someone else in John's head?" Rogue said with horror.  
  
"Yes." Spark answered. "Andrew's code name was Ash and his number in the lab was 1612. However... when John or Andrew as he now was woke up something had gone wrong. The process had destroyed any sane part of Andrew that was left. He became twisted but terribly dangerous. He killed Alicia before the scientists could stop him. So they sealed Andrew away in John's mind, locking him so tightly that he couldn't brake free. After that they gave up on the Eden Mutants but not before they used us to create serum P."  
  
"So... you used the artificial mind blocks to what? Give John control again? And how did Andrew gain control in the first place if it was as strong as you say?" Bobby asked. Spark flashed him a smile.  
  
"Yes, I linked my mind with John's. Two minds are better than one and we were able to force Ash back into his prison. I'm not some super mutant with multiple powers, great looks and a tragic past... well, two out of the three isn't bad." Spark grinned. Then the grin faded and she became serious again.  
  
"After the lab was half destroyed John fled here. I lost him in the confusion so I stayed with Lisa and Neill, the other Eden mutants. After five years Neill died, protecting Lisa who he loved. After that Lisa just... faded away. She died a few months after of a broken heart. I was alone again and looking for John."  
  
"Then what?" Bobby said.  
  
"Professor Xavier nearly killed us all." Spark said. Bobby rose an eyebrow. "You don't get what nearly happened do you? Either of you. If Xavier had killed John, Ash would still have been alive and he would have total control of John's body. As it was the mental attack was so strong, so deadly that it managed to weaken the mental wall protecting John. Andrew was able to brake free. So John joined the Brotherhood to keep Ash away from his friends. They came across me a few months later and I joined the Brotherhood to help John." Spark's voice trailed away.  
  
"Thank you for that." a silky voice said. Stepping forward from out of the shadows was Magneto. Spark glared at him, while mentally working out how much chance they had against him. John was in no position to help them, Bobby was still weak after being attacked. She didn't know how much help Rogue would be against him.  
  
As it turned out she didn't need to worry about how helpful Rogue would be. Magneto raised his hand and two metal bands went flying through the air and wrapped themselves around Rogue's arms. She barley had time to give a small 'yelp' of surprise before she was lifted into the air and pulled towards Magneto.   
  
"I wouldn't think about using your teloporting powers if I was you." Magneto said. "By the time you managed to save her, I will have crushed the life out of your pathetic friend over there." Spark gritted her teeth together but did and said nothing. She knew some of Magento's ways now and the only reason he was still talking to them was because he wanted something. What, Spark didn't know. After all if Magneto had, indeed been listing then he would know that serum P was useless. So what on earth could the four of them have that would force Magneto to attack this school?  
  
Rogue struggled against the metal rings that held her in place. It was hopeless. Magneto must have been aware of her struggles but he ignored her as if she wasn't really there. As Magneto stood there, a smirk on his face that made Bobby want to punch him, John raised his head and looked right at Spark.  
  
There was a fevered look in them and she could almost see flames in his iris, burning brightly. Despite the flames she could see, Spark shivered, suddenly feeling frozen.  
  
"Ahh... Pyro." Magneto said. He flung his arm out towards Rogue, a third ring wrapping itself around her next. She began to choke as the ring was made tighter and tighter. Rogue gasped, her eyesight switching from black to clear then back to black. Slowly the world went dim and Rogue knew she was dying.  
  
"Stop!" Pyro yelled. Instantly the mental band around Rogue's neck loosened. She gasped, taking in huge lung fulls of precious oxygen.  
  
"Now that we understand one another." Magneto said, taking a pause. He could afford the luxury of the pause as he was the one in control and all the other's could do is watch and wait.  
  
"I'll just take what I need and be on my way." he said.   
  
"What do you need?" Bobby asked, a hint of interest lacing his voice.  
  
"Just Pyro and his cooperation." Magneto said silkily. He flicked his fingers and the metal window frame went flying, taking the glass with it. He stepped forward, Rogue being dragged behind. John stood up and moved to follow them. At the last second, Magneto sent a large sheet of metal which must have been there for that very purpose, flying back into the room. The side of it hit Spark full force. The last thing she saw was Bobby falling to the ground, the sound of John's scream ringing in her ears.  
  
TBC...  
  
You want more? Please say you want more, please leave a review! Just click on the little blue button, it's really easy.   
  
Till next time!  
  
~Sethoz 


	6. Old Sins Have Long Shadows

Disclaimer: Here we have it, the next part of Incendiarism at last! Thank you so much to everyone who left a review. Hope you all enjoy this, please read then leave a review.  
  
I don't own X-Men. All I own is Spark and a John clone. (I wish.)  
  
~~~  
  
Incendiarism.  
  
~~~  
  
Part 6:- Old Sins Cast Long Shadows  
  
~~~  
  
The darkness was all around him. It encased him, covered him so there was nothing but the darkness. He didn't know if there was any floor or any walls, there was no visible surfaces anywhere. For some reason though, he could see himself.   
  
If John raised his arm, he could looked down in the darkness and see his arm with his attached hand as if he was standing in clear sunlight.  
  
Time passed. It was impossible to tell how much had passed, it could have been mere minutes, it could have been days. Time seemed to move differently in the place where John stood. After what seemed like forever to him, footsteps sounded behind him.  
  
A man stood behind him, maybe a year or so older than John himself. And John's mind screamed, refusing to accept what he was seeing. For what he was seeing was something that didn't exist, that had never existed.   
  
It had meant too once, nine years ago this body was a possibility, was someone's destiny. John was looking at the body of Andrew, the one who had died at the age of eleven.  
  
"Surprised?" Andrew asked. His voice had changed too, it had broken and become deeper, husker. Of course John had only seen Andrew once, when he was on the operation table but the sleeping gas had taken effect almost instantly and after that John only heard Andrew in his head, ranting on about this or that. After a while, thanks to the scientists, even that had stopped.   
  
Years had passed. All too soon the memory of Andrew had faded as had the memory of his past. It was hard to remember pain, after the encounter the feelings slowly vanish like a shadow on your mind. Yet here was Andrew, his blond hair had grown longer and was tied back into a ponytail. The eyes were the same though, deep, dark green eyes that had stared at John with such hatred before becoming drug filled and slowly closing forever. All this passed through John's mind in the time it takes to blink.  
  
"Where are we?" John asked. He didn't bother to ask how any of this was possible.  
  
"It is a bit drab isn't it?" Andrew said, waving a hand lazily around the blackness. "This is your mind, or is it our mind? So hard to tell sometimes." John put his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath.  
  
"He has Rogue." John said simply. Instantly the calm expression on Andrew's face was shattered. He took a few steps forward and grabbed John by the shirt.  
  
"What do you mean?" Andrew hissed. John mealy looked at him, letting the other mutant have a look at his most recent memory. Andrew let go of the shirt and backed away.  
  
"I have an idea." John said, wishing desperately that this mind him had a lighter. Sadly, the dream him came with clothes, shoes and memories but no sliver lighter with a shark on it. Andrew gestured at him to get on with it.  
  
"Magneto wants something from us. It could be something you have or something I have. It might even be something we both have. So we work together. We help each other until she is safe."  
  
"Then we end this." Andrew added. John looked at him, his fingers making the monition they would make to flick his lighter.  
  
"You'll right. This has to end one way or the other." John agreed. He extended his hand and looked at Andrew. The other boy roughly took his hand and shook it.  
  
Then the world exploded into color and light.  
  
~~~  
  
Bobby tried to open his eyes. It was a mistake. The light bit into the slits where his eyes were burning at the tender eyeballs. He gave a weak mumble, letting his eyes close again.   
  
"No, Bobby, don't shut your eyes. Stay with us Okay?" The Professor's voice floated over him, urging him back into the land of the living. Bobby didn't want to try and wake up again, it was a lot more peaceful in the quiet darkness of his own mind. Still, something about the tone of the man's voice made him try and force his eyes back open.  
  
"Professor?" he asked, forcing his eyes open enough to see the man sitting in a wheelchair by his bed.  
  
"Bobby, it's good to see you awake again." the man said with a smile. "Just try and relax." Bobby let his eyes drift shut.  
  
"Rogue!" he gasped trying to climb out of the bed. He fell back onto the soft sheets with a scream of pain.  
  
"Bobby, calm down. I know all about Magneto, John and Rogue." Bobby stared at him, understanding growing on his face.  
  
"Spark told you?"  
  
"No... Young Miss. Spark has yet to regain conscious." Xavier said, wheeling his chair a little away from Bobby's bed. Bobby looked over to the space which Xavier had moved from. Lying on the bed next to his was Spark. She was lying on her back, her eyes closed. "I'm afraid I had to read your mind to gain the information, however you were screaming it out loud to the world." The Professor said dryly. "I think we need to work on your mind control." Bobby blushed. He looked back over to where Spark lay, so perfectly still.  
  
"Will she be okay?"  
  
"She should be. From what we could tell, she was hit in the head with a metal sheet. The force of the blow knocked her out. Unfortunately as she fell, she teleported. I assume it was a instinctive reaction, I doubt she would have tried to teleport with a head injury if she could think clearly. She ended up impaling herself on a broken chair before Scott and Kurt found you both." The Professor allowed a rare smile to flit across his face. "Now rest, as soon as she wakes up we will be able to devise a plan to save both Rouge and John." Bobby tried to nod but the pain was too much. He settled instead for a weak smile and closed his eyes again. This time he didn't open them and soon slipped off into a light sleep.   
  
Once Professor Xavier was sure that he was asleep he wheeled his chair over to the office, where Hank was standing, looking over some charts.  
  
"Hank." Xavier said. The blue haired man-beast looked up at his name. "When will she wake up?"  
  
"If she wakes up." Hank corrected him. "Why did you tell Mr. Drake that she will be fine? You know only too well, that the injuries she sustained were extensive and that she should have woken up hours ago."  
  
"I had to tell him something."  
  
"You'll right of course." Hank said, bowing his head. He looked through the door of his office to where Spark lay on the bed. "She could wake up at any time. It's just... the longer it lasts, the less likely she is too wake up."  
  
~~~  
  
Bobby slept for roughly two hours. It was a light, refreshing sleep. When he came too, the first thought that invaded his mind was 'why had he just allowed himself to fall asleep when his two friends, Rogue and John were in terrible danger?' the answer came to him like lightning. "The Professor." There was no way Bobby would have fallen asleep if Xavier hadn't been there. Sighing Bobby turned his head and watched Spark.   
  
"g..." The sound came faintly to Bobby, so faintly that he wasn't even sure if he had heard it.  
  
"Spark? Spark can you hear me? Come on you gotta wake up." Bobby pleaded. There was no repose, the only sound being the steady beeping of her heart monitor.   
  
"John needs you Spark. Come on, he needs you. Rogue needs you. Please wake up..."  
  
"J'hn?" a weak voice asked, unable to form a complete word. Spark's eyes were slightly open and she was looking at him.  
  
"Yes, Spark, John needs you." Bobby said. Her eyes opened more as she stated first at him, then at the bed she was in.  
  
"Doctor!" Bobby called. "She's woken up!" He was grinning from ear to ear, now they could do something.  
  
~~~  
  
"Damnit!" Spark cursed, grimacing as she clutching at her wounded stomach. "I hate it when I get impaled!"  
  
"What, you've had experience?" Bobby joked. Spark gazed at him, a clear, cool look, which had no humor in it.  
  
"Once or twice."  
  
"Oh." said Bobby completely at a loss. Spark grimaced again then gave him a smile.  
  
"Don't worry 'bout it. I've had worse." She turned her gaze over to where The Professor was siting, calmly waiting for her to finish. "Okay, Baldie, let's get this show on the road."  
  
"Where do you thing you'll going?" Xavier asked as Spark tried to get out of the bed. She glared at him from under some stray strands of hair.  
  
"We need to find Pyro and Rogue right?" she asked. "I know where the bases are, so you need me to tell you how to get there. So let's get started shall we."  
  
"You are in no fit condition to be going anywhere young lady." Hank said, appearing by her bedside. Spark's eyes widened ever so slightly as she gaze dat the tall blue man-beast that was looking at her.  
  
"I'm going to take a wide guess here, but you'll not Nightcrawler are you." she asked, sounding almost sad at the thought. Hank nodded. "Humm, you must be new." she said, more to herself than to anymore else. She transferred her gaze back to Xavier. "I'm coming too." she said simply.  
  
"Spark, what help would you be to John if you'll injured?" Xavier pointed out. Spark's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Don't you ever dare to tell if I would or would not be able to help John. You can't stop me coming... besides I... I just have this feeling. I need to come." Xavier continued to stare at her, his gaze uncertain. "Please." Spark added.  
  
~~~  
  
"Do you love him?" Bobby asked. They were sitting in the X-jet, waiting for take off. Storm, Wolverine and Cyclops were already there and they were just waiting for Nightcrawler. Xavier had deiced that a large frontal attack would be foolhardy so instead, he was sending four in to find John and Rogue and then get out. Bobby was coming to make sure Spark would be OK and Spark was coming because it was impossible for her to be left behind. As she pointed out, even if they left her behind in the mansion she would try and follow them and surly it would be more dangerous for her to use her powers when she was weak? In the end they had reached a compromise. She would go as long as she stayed in the jet.  
  
"What?" Spark, asked slightly started. She turned her head from where she was watching out for Nightcrawler to look at Bobby. "Do I love who?"  
  
"Do you love John?"  
  
"Of course I do. He's my brother in everything but blood and name." she smiled fondly. "When he first came to live with us, my dad made the mistake of calling him St. John. He had to endure an hour long lecture as John told him it was pronounced Sinjin. John looked so serious. Why do you ask?"  
  
"I... I don't know. I guess I just wanted to know how you felt about him."  
  
"I love him so much, he's the only family I have now. I just... I just hope he doesn't make a deal with the devil." Spark finished. Bobby's ears perked up at her last comment.  
  
"What? You mean make a deal with the Brotherhood?"  
  
"No." Spark hesitated. "You see... John loves Rogue." there was a short silence. Finally Bobby nodded, once. Spark hurried on.  
  
"Of course, John would never had said anything while you were going out with her, after all you'll his best friend. But... well... John forgot about Andrew. Not forgot as in didn't remember him but rather he blocked the thought of him from his mind. Because of this, he didn't try and protect his thoughts from someone who was in his head so Andrew knew everything John did."  
  
"What's your point?"  
  
"The point is when John left it was more than just protecting everyone in the mansion. Andrew loves Rogue as well. He would talk all the time about the things he wanted to do... to her." Spark shook her head. "It was horrible, right after I joined the Brotherhood. John was having a meltdown."  
  
"So when you say 'make a deal with the devil', you mean Andrew?" Bobby guessed.  
  
"That's right. John might be stupid enough to try and make some kind of deal with Andrew to save Rogue. And Andrew is obsessed about her enough to keep to it... at least until she's safe. Then he will turn on John." She said it quite simply, without trying to soften what she was saying. If was as if she was reading out from a menu about the different brands of wine instead of telling him the John was in deep, deep trouble.   
  
Spark turned away, so that he wouldn't see the anger in her eyes. She had tried to remind neutral when she told him about Andrew but it was hard. Because she was so angry at Bobby. Angry at him for not knowing, angry at him for not fixing her brother and most of all angry at him for caring. It was much easier to hate him when she could pretend that he didn't care about John.  
  
She was distracted from her thoughts but the arrival of Nightcrawler. He appeared in the cockpit, muttering sorry. The jet slowly began to power up and Spark let her thoughts drift.  
  
To Bobby, who was watching her, she looked very pale and ill. Her gaze would sometimes be unfocused. Once or twice on the flight, she lifted a hand to her head as if it was causing her some kind of pain.  
  
~~~  
  
The truce or whatever it was they had, wasn't working. Both John and Andrew had let any mind blocks that had put up to separate each other fall and the result was the two were starting to merge into one person.  
  
//We need to put our mind blocks back put.\\ Inner-John augured. He could feel the frustration in inner-Andrew, could feel the inanity bubbling just below the surface, inviting John to come and play to let it all go. Inwardly inner-John smiled, he couldn't believe that he was being the rational, sensible one.  
  
//You mean boring one.\\ Inner-Andrew said. //Why don't you just let it go and have a bit of fun?\\ He then eased up a few weak walls, inner-John doing the same.  
  
//Shut up, just follow the plan.\\ hissed inner-John, trying to ignore the temptation. Inner-Andrew was laughing at inner-John's attempts to ignore him. Outside, John's face remained neutral as the battle raged within.  
  
//Why are you trying to ignore me? It's because you know I'm right. You want to have fun but you don't think that Rogue would approve. Man, you've turned into such a wuss. She gets off on it! Why do you think she likes Wolverine?\\  
  
//Shut up, shut up, shut up!\\ chanted inner-John. The augment ended as Magneto entered the room where John was imprisoned.   
  
"Pyro. Good to see you awake." Magneto said. Blank eyes answered him. As soon was Magneto had started speaking, Andrew - who had been in control of John's body at the time - lost interest in what he was saying and started up the argument again.  
  
"Pyro?" The eyes remained blank as the two fire users fought each other. Erik raised his arm and slapped John hard on the cheek. His head snapped round as the hand made contact with the skin but there was no other reaction. A minute passed. Finally the augment going on in John's head ended.  
  
Suddenly John blinked.  
  
"Pyro."  
  
"Magneto." John said softly. "Where's Rogue?"  
  
"You can talk to her in a minute. First of all... I want to speak to the other fire user in your head. Ash, I believe he's called." Magneto almost purred. John closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a stranger was looking out of John's brown eyes. Ash struggled against the bonds the body was in.  
  
"What do you want?" he snarled. Magneto studied the boy for a few seconds before waving his hand. The restraints came off. Ash stopped struggling and stared at Magneto.  
  
"What do you want?" Andrew repeated, moving his arm around. Just under his skin inner-John muttered something about it not being his arm. Andrew ignored him.   
  
"How would you like to be in control for good?" Magneto asked. Andrew smiled.  
  
"What do you want me to do?"  
  
~~~  
  
This was the fourth possible hide-out. The first three had all been empty. Bobby was starting to loose it, he really was. How hard could it be to find them? They could always find the X-Men.   
  
//Ah, but the mansion isn't really hidden is it.\\ he thought.   
  
The jet descended into a forest. The four adults left and moved towards the place where Spark said the base was. Back in the jet, Spark studied the floor, looking any where but Bobby.   
  
"So, John was having a meltdown? What was that like?"  
  
"What was that like?" snapped Spark. "How do you think?"  
  
"Oh come on." Bobby scoffed. "It couldn't have been too bad, this is John we'll talking about."  
  
"You don't know!" she yelled. "You weren't there, you have no idea!" she snapped her head up from the floor, her gaze angry. The expression changed to a glazed far away look as she moaned softly in pain.  
  
"I'm sorry, what were we talking about?" she asked, her gaze still far away. Bobby started at her in horror.  
  
"Spark, are you all right?"  
  
"Why shouldn't I be?" she replied, a puzzled expression on her face. She slowly raised her head and looked up at the roof. "This is the right place."  
  
"How do you know, some kind of physic power you haven't shared yet?"  
  
"No. I just saw Toad swing over head. We have to stop him before he raises the alarm!" she said, staggering over to the door, Bobby a few feet in front. They exited the jet and moved through the forest. A few hundred meters away, Toad was watching something, his back to them. Bobby sent some ice flying at him. It hit Toad in the back, sending him flying. The mutant spun round, using his tong to jump into a tree. The two fought for some minutes before Bobby gained the upper hand, knocking the other out. He turned to Spark, only to find she wasn't there.  
  
"Oh man..." groaned Bobby.  
  
~~~  
  
Spark had found her way into the compound with out any real difficulty. She teleported through the empty rooms, searching. Every few rooms she would have to stop and rest for a moment.   
  
Spark felt terribly lightheaded.  
  
She was on the lower levels. Spark hadn't been in this part of the compound before which meant she couldn't teleport without risk of finding herself in a solid wall. Creeping along a corridor, she saw one of the brotherhood, a mutant named Gambit leave a room and lock the door. He seemed troubled.  
  
"I don't like this." he muttered, twirling a playing card between his fingers. Sighing he walked away, down the corridor, away from both Spark and the door. She crept to the door and put her ear to it. Inside she could dimly make out faint sounds. Spark backed away, a frown on her face. She couldn't risk teleporting, knowing her luck, Magneto would have made the door extra thick to stop such an attempt. Spark looked at her hand, flexing it open and shut. She closed her eyes.  
  
//Thanks a bunch!\\ she cursed before holding her palm erecting. It slowly began to glow a faint blue. She gasped slightly, but held the hand stiff. Tiny sparks of blue electricity started jumping out of her hand before a larger spark flew to the lock. Using the electricity she unlocked the door. Her knees buckled. The door opened.  
  
"Spark!" Rogue gasped, running to the kneeling girl. Spark shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs in it.  
  
"Hey." she croaked. Rogue smiled.  
  
"Hey yourself. What are you doing here?" she questioned.  
  
"Looking for you. Have you seen John?" Spark answered. Rogue shook her head.  
  
"Tell him."   
  
"Pardon?" Rogue frowned. Spark coughed, then repeated her sentence.  
  
"I said, tell him. Tell him while you can." she smiled weakly. "He feels the same."   
  
A shout echoed down the hall towards them. The voice was that of John. Rogue turned to Spark, her eyes shining. Spark gave a tiny nod.  
  
"Tell him."  
  
Rogue ran down the hall towards the voice, a smile on her face. Spark followed at a slower pace. She entered the door Rogue had ran into and bumped right into the girl.  
  
"Rogue? What's th-" she stopped, taking the in the scene in front of her. There was a chair in the middle of the room, Magneto was thrown to the side, badly burned.  
  
And in the mist of all this was John, his arms outstretched, flames dancing all over the room.  
  
"It's show time." he said, Rogue gasping at his words. The accent was instantly recognized  
  
Andrew was in full control.  
  
TBC...  
  
Thank you for reading, lot longer than a normal chapter for me.   
  
Please leave a review.   
  
I think there will only be two more parts to this.  
  
Let me know what you thought about this part!  
  
~Sethoz 


	7. The Voice or The Echo?

Disclaimer: Here we have it! The second to last part of Incendiarism! Sorry for the wait, this part didn't want to be written. Thank you so much to everyone so far who has left a review. You guys are so great! *sniff*   
  
Anyway, I don't own X-Men, the characters, actors or places. They all belong to other, lucky people. All I own is Spark.  
  
Please read, then leave a review!  
  
~~~  
  
Incendiarism.  
  
~~~  
  
Part 7:- The Voice or the Echo?  
  
*15 Minutes before Rogue entered the room...*  
  
Ash grinned, a wild, reckless grin. He looked at Magneto, the smile growing more reckless. He was going to enjoy playing this game. Inside, John looked up from the mind sulk he was in and asked what game. Inner-Andrew hushed at him to be quiet and gave a small insane laugh, his mind's eye fixed on his plans for Magneto. Inner-John deiced he didn't really want to know, as long as Andrew kept to the plan and returned to his mind sulk.  
  
"Can I have a cigaret?" Andrew asked. Magneto frowned.  
  
"You don't smoke."  
  
"No, no, that wuss Pyro doesn't smoke. I do." Magneto hesitated and Andrew rolled his/John's eyes. "Didn't you read my files? I need more fire than a cigaret to be able to control it. But my fire is a lot more dangerous that anything the wimp can use." Magneto reached into his pocket and held out an unlit cigaret. Andrew leaned forward, hungry. Inside, John mentally leaned forward, his eyes bright. His mental fingers itched.  
  
At the last moment Magneto snatched his hand back. He must have seen something in Andrew's eyes that warned him of the danger he was facing. Or maybe he was just playing with Andrew? John didn't know. What he did know though was that Andrew was going to make Magneto pay for that little act.  
  
John suddenly felt a tiny bit sorry for Magneto.  
  
"What are you doing?" snapped Andrew. "You want my help, I want a fag, I haven't smoked in an age." Magneto toyed with the unlit cigaret for a little longer, unaware that he was holding what was essentially a bomb.  
  
"Why should I give this too you?" he asked. Andrew shrugged his/John's shoulders. Magneto tossed the cigarette over to him. Eagerly Andrew grabbed it, sniffing it, just letting the fumes enter his/John's body. Sighing, Magneto lit a single match and Andrew lit his cigaret. He lent back and began to smoke it, smiling a little to himself as if he was in on a joke the other mutant knew nothing about - which, in effect, he was.  
  
"What are you smiling about boy?"  
  
"You know, it's true that the flame in this cigaret is too small for me to use." Andrew said, flicking some ash onto the floor. Magneto looked a trifle confused as Andrew smiled again, a smile that Magneto knew only too well.  
  
"I on the other hand." John said, now fully in control of his own body again. "I can use this flame." he smiled again and breathed gently out. Instantly the flame increased and jumped out of the cigarette, the heat forcing Magneto to step back from John. John blinked and in that blink everything changed, as Andrew shifted back into control. He willed the flames to increase, laughing as they did so. This power was so intoxicating. Magneto raised his arms, calling some metal to him.   
  
"I guess I shall just have to teach you a lesson." Magneto said, his face betraying nothing of how he really felt. Andrew raised an eyebrow.  
  
"You really think that you can stop us?" Andrew asked. He clenched one of his/John's fists and a wall of flame shot up, the sheer heat of it melting the metal that Magneto had called. Andrew pressed his advantage, sending the wall of fire backwards, forcing Magneto to move away. Andrew cocked his/John's head to the side as if he was listing to an invisible voice.  
  
"Good idea Johnny-boy." he said, an evil grin on his/John's face. Andrew raised the clenched fist until it was level with his/John's face. For a few seconds he simply looked at it, then flicked the wrist backwards, towards Magneto. Fire rushed towards him, enveloping him, covering him. Magneto screamed.  
  
Then there was quiet.   
  
The flames died down as Andrew stood there, his/John's eyes closed. There was an un-natural smile on the lips. Inner-Andrew had kicked Inner-John hard, in the head, then followed it with a sharp punch in the gut. Inner-John flopped backwards and began to sink into a a soft yellow like substance.  
  
Andrew opened his eyes. They were his now, not his and John's but his and only his. He stretched out his new arms, letting the flames dance around the room.  
  
"It's show time." he said. There was a loud gasp behind him and there stood the girl of his dreams - Rogue. And for once, there was no annoying voice telling him that Rogue was not his. Rogue would be his.  
  
"Rogue, how good to see you again." he said with a smirk. Spark pushed past Rogue and advanced towards Andrew. The latter simply stood there, a smile on his face. He shook his head.  
  
"It won't work this time Yasmin." he said, the smile becoming twisted. He tapped a finger on the side of his forehead. "John isn't in here anymore."  
  
"You're lying!" spat Rogue. Andrew shrugged his shoulders and idly examined his nails.  
  
"Believe what you want. He isn't home." Andrew answered. Rogue shook her head in denial and took a few steps forward to get closer to Andrew.  
  
"John! John, come on fight him!" she yelled. Andrew's smile vanished, to be replaced by a frown.  
  
"I said he isn't here anymore!"   
  
~~~  
  
Deep in his brain, Inner-John stirred faintly. He was still sinking through the layers of yellow. Each layer represented a layer of his conciseness and the deeper he sunk the harder it was to stay awake. He opened his eyes slowly, a echo penetrating the layers.  
  
//John! John, come on fight him!\\ He frowned slightly, his mind moving sluggishly in an effort to recognize the voice. Then his eyes drifted shut and his mind went quiet again.  
  
~~~  
  
Fire's sprung up all around Rogue, trapping her with Andrew. On the other side of the fire, Spark was forced to shield her face from the immense heat. The rest of the X-Men came pouring into the room, Kurt in the lead.  
  
"Oh, no." he whispered before grabbing the frantic Spark. "Do not even think about it. You don't know how wide that fire is, you'll be burnt alive." Spark sobbed, knowing he was right. She couldn't do a thing to help.  
  
Her head hurt.  
  
Wolverine's claws came out when he realized Rogue was trapped on the other side of the fire.  
  
"I'll tare that little punk limb from limb." he growled. Storm put out a hand to stop him.  
  
"Logan, think about this. If and I mean if, you get through that fire you'll be so badly burned that Pyro will be able to move himself and Rogue before you recover... I just wish I knew why he was doing this." Storm finished. Cyclops stood there, his hand on his visor, hoping for a clear shot. Spark had bent forward, crying, Kurt's arms the only thing stopping her from falling on her face.  
  
On the other side of the wall, Rogue heard all this as if it was coming from a great distance. She kept her eyes glued on Andrew.  
  
"What did you do?" she said, tears in her eyes. Andrew shrugged, clearly proud with himself.  
  
"I won." he said simply. "He lost." Andrew moved forward, his hungry gaze boring into Rogue's scared eyes.  
  
"I win so I get the prize." He ran his fingers gently down the side of Rogue's face. With out meaning too Rogue let out a small moan as his fingers danced down her cheek. Andrew grinned. "I always get what I want." he whispered.   
  
Rogue locked eyes on him, then captured his lips with hers. The kiss was deep. After roughly fifteen seconds Rogue broke away, gasping heavily a triumphant smile on her face. She lifted a hand and the fire's around them began to die.   
  
"Come on John! He's weak, fight him!" she yelled as Andrew snarled realizing he had been tricked.  
  
~~~  
  
Deep in his brain, Inner-John stirred faintly. The layer's of yellow around him were faint, almost transparent. He moved restlessly, suddenly aware that he was trapped.  
  
//Come on John! He's weak, fight him!\\ It was the same voice, stronger this time. It was a voice he knew... a voice he loved... it was...  
  
"Rogue?" he muttered, forcing his eyes open and for the first time seeing where he was. He shut his eyes then snapped them back open.  
  
"No." he said, then began to force his way back upwards, through the layers to where Rogue was. This wasn't over, not by a long shot.  
  
~~~  
  
"What do I have to do to prove it to you people!" roared Andrew, fire jumping erratically all round the room. Rogue closed her eyes and concentrated, making the fires die down.   
  
"It's over Ash." she said coldly. Ash growled and hit Rogue, hard, in the face. She went flying and crashed into Wolverine.  
  
"Bitch!" Ash screamed, wiping a trickle of blood that had come from his mouth away with his hand. He paused and stared at the tiny drops of blood, utter confusion on his face. Wolverine snarled and his claws came out.  
  
"No!" Rogue yelled. "That's still John's body even though he's not in control." Ash rolled his eyes.  
  
"John's gone. Get that through yo-" he stopped suddenly, his eyes going wide. He gasped slightly, a shaking hand being raised to his face. He shook slightly, then dropped to his knees with a scream, his hand clutched to the top of his head.  
  
"No!" he yelled. "You'll not supposed to be here! You'll supposed to be gone!"  
  
"John..." Spark whispered, hope in her eyes. Ash jumped backwards as if he had been shot at.  
  
"Why are you still here? You paid for your ticket, you should go and see the movie, can't come in here, not allowed, birds singing, I kissed her!" He froze, his fingers a little away from his face.  
  
"That's right, I kissed her. Kissy Kissy. No, shouldn't be here, why are you all here, go away." he said, his eyes tightly shut.  
  
The X-Men stared in horror.  
  
"Wh- What is he doing?" Scott asked. Spark was watching Ash with sad eyes.  
  
"He's insane. The shock of John fighting back pushed him over even further. If John doesn't win this soon it could drive John himself insane."  
  
So let's help him!" Rogue said. Spark shook her head in defeat.  
  
"There's nothing any of us can do. It has to end now, and it has to end this way."  
  
"Someone hasn't got a ticket." Ash said in a sing song voice. "Why won't somebody answer the phone? Answer the phone! It's ringing, make it stop, why won't it stop..." He pressed his hand's together in the shape of praying hands and jerked his head to the side in a spasm.  
  
"Lost my pencil, now teacher will be mad. Sorry! Shouldn't touch, mustn't touch, what's the word?" he directed the last sentence at Rogue. She blinked and took a step back. Ash swung out his arm, a flame nestled in his hand.  
  
"Mom and dad say don't play with matches, story of the firefly, flames lick you but you don't get wet." he rambled, the flame jumping from his hand and increasing. The fire spread around the room, getting hotter and hotter by the minute.  
  
"John!" Screamed Rogue. "John, please come back." The rest of the X-Men joined in.   
  
"John! Come on, fight that punk, you can do it!"  
  
"Shut up, shut up!" yelled Ash, his hands pressed against his ears. "The music has stopped so you've got to be still."  
  
~~~  
  
Inner-Andrew stared at Inner-John in disbelief.  
  
"But how?" he asked. Inner-John shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"What can I say? I happen to like being in control of my own body." he said then jumped on Inner-Andrew. The two rolled along the floor, each trying to beat the other. Outside Ash began to sprout random sentences as the two fought.   
  
Inner-Andrew fastened his fingers around Inner-John's neck, an evil grin on his face. Reaching up, Inner-John did the same. Dimly, as if from a distance, Inner-John was aware of a scream. It came as a shock to him to realize the scream was being torn from his own throat. Life and Death flickered between his eyes.  
  
Suddenly, without warning everything stopped - the screaming from his mouth, the feel of the hot flames, the sensation of Andrew's mental fingers on his neck, his own grasp on Andrew, the yells from his friends - as if someone had flipped a switch inside his head.  
  
Then, mercifully, everything went black.  
  
TBC...  
  
There you have it, just the one part left! That's right, just one part left. Please, please leave a review! The more review's I get, the more happy I will be (As I don't think this part was any good.) and the faster I write the last chapter!  
  
Toodles!  
  
~Sethoz 


	8. A beautiful mind

Disclaimer: let's get all the notes out of the way first.  
  
A big thank you to everyone who reviewed this story, namely;  
  
"Layton Colt", "Pyro-Fan", "FireStarter", "RogueCajun", "dstrbd child", "DarkPrincessPyro99", "ShippoJunkie", "buffyangelus1", "chattypandagurl", "X3", "Obiwanfan", "ginger", "Wolf-of-Black-Dawn", "Lady Moon", "starkeeper", "Fp/Nitecrawler", "the proud canadian", "hiddenflame", "SerinityRose", "raven" and "Princess Tsurugi".  
  
Clearly I was wrong, about how good the last chapter was. I didn't like it but other people did, so it must have been good.  
  
Here we have the last chapter to Incendiarism. It's been a wacky trip, writing this. Had a great time and not only that, but I think as a whole my writing improved over the course of the 8 chapters.  
  
Anyway...  
  
I don't own X-Men, John, Magneto etc. All I own is Spark and the plot.  
  
~~~  
  
Incendiarism.  
  
~~~  
  
Epilogue:- A beautiful mind.  
  
Even though he was in a coma he could still hear noise. People moved in and out of the room, but there was one who stayed, no matter what.  
  
Rogue.  
  
He didn't know if it was part of his fevered delusions or if she really was sitting by his bed, pleading with him to wake and to be John again. Just John.  
  
Part of him was sure it was all in his head but it gave him the strength to carry on fighting in order to find out for himself.  
  
~~~  
  
Hospitals are all the same. That was what Rogue thought anyway. She had plenty of time to think about it all sorts of things as she sat by John's bed, his limp hand in her own gloved one, begging him to wake up.  
  
She had even prayed to God a few times, trying to make some sort of deal.   
  
//Please let him be okay...\\ she pleaded, silent tears running down her face. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't see or hear Bobby enter the room.  
  
"No change then?" he asked softly. Rogue shook her head, not even bothering to try and hide the tears that were making a pattern down her cheek.  
  
"Both of them are still the same." she said, tearing her gaze away from John's face. "I still don't understand what happened to them..."  
  
~Flashback~  
  
Rogue watched in horror as Andrew froze, his hands fighting a invisible rope that was curled round his neck. He gasped for breath, clawing at his throat, trying to free himself. His eyes bulged and his skin began to turn a gray color.   
  
Andrew's mouth fell open as his eyes rolled up in his head. Then he simply dropped to the floor. There was a gasp from Kurt as Spark pitched forward. It was only due to his hold on her waist that she didn't hit the ground face first.  
  
"John?" Rogue called running over to the fallen body. She bent down by him and placed her black gloved hand over his neck. "He's alive, thank God." she said. Bobby moved over to where Kurt was holding an unresponsive Spark.  
  
"Is she Okay?" he asked. Kurt shook Spark gently.  
  
"I don't know. She seems to have fainted."  
  
~End Flashback~  
  
Neither Spark or John woke up on the flight back to the mansion. They didn't wake up in the first day. Or the second. Or the third. It had been nearly a week now and they still hadn't woken.   
  
"Dr. McCoy was really worried about Spark's head injury for a while. He thinks that's why she fainted and slipped into this coma." Rogue said, her eyes resting on Spark's still form. Bobby moved round the room and sat down in the empty chair by Spark's bed.  
  
"Do... do you think John won?" he asked. Instantly Rogue's face shut down, blinds falling over her eyes.  
  
"I don't know. I hope so." was all she said before grasping John's hand again and resuming her vigil over his bed. Bobby sighed softly and stood up.  
  
"Wake up soon Spark." he said then walked out of the room.  
  
Outside Logan was waiting. He was pacing up and down, up and down, up and down.  
  
"How is she?" he asked gruffly. Bobby shook his head.  
  
"Not good. John better wake up soon and be himself again or it could kill her." Logan's claws came out then back in then out again.  
  
"I just wish there was something I could do, someone I could kill." he said.   
  
"So do we all... well, maybe not kill..." Bobby spluttered. "I'm going to see the Professor." As Bobby sped off, Logan moved to the observation room. He could see Rogue crying, her hand held tightly to John's still one. As he watched she lay her head by the side of the bed and slowly cried herself to sleep.  
  
~~~  
  
In the ruins of Magneto's old hideout stood Gambit and Toad. Held between them was the badly burned Erik.  
  
"We better get him out of here." Gambit said. "Mystique, she no like to be kept waiting." They moved slowly out of the building, towards the helicopter and Mystique.  
  
~~~  
  
Dr. Hank McCoy slipped quietly into the room, careful not to wake the sleeping girl. He moved first to Spark's bed and checked over her. There was no change. Then he moved to where John and Rogue lay.   
  
At first glance there was no change here, either. Then he drew his breath in with a sharp hiss. John's hand had disentangled it's self from Rogue's and was now laid in her hair, as if he was stroking it. There was a sudden intake of breath from behind him, followed by heavy panting. Rogue woke with a start, John's hand falling to his side.  
  
Spark was clawing at thin air, her eyes closed, taking in huge mouthful's of air. It was doubtful that she was aware of anything that was going on. Her eyes snapped open and she screamed, a single, long, high-pitched scream.  
  
"Spark!" Rogue yelled. Instantly the scream stopped, to be replaced by a low whimpering. As Rogue moved from her place by John's bed to Spark's bed, the whimpering stopped.   
  
"Spark? Are you okay?" she asked. Spark turned her head slightly to see the rest of the room.  
  
"...Wh-where am I?" she croaked.   
  
"You'll safe."   
  
"..J'hn?" Spark muttered, being dragged back to the land of nod. Rogue smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.  
  
"He's here too... at least, I hope so." she said, but Spark had already fallen back asleep. Hank gently moved past the frozen Rogue and bent over Spark.  
  
"She'll be fine now. The worst is over." he announced. Rogue nodded, but her mind was already back with John and the fact that he was still in a coma.  
  
Hank sighed and stepped away, allowing Rogue to move past him. He shook his head sadly, it didn't take a doctor to see that she was close to a breakdown, the hope that it would be John and not Andrew, being the only thing that kept her sane.  
  
"Please wake up John." Rogue said, brushing some of his hair out of his eyes. They were open. She screamed and jumped back, her hand on her heart.  
  
"What? What is it?" Hank asked, running over to her. She pointed a shaking finger at John.  
  
"His eyes..." she whispered. A sound came from the bed, so quiet that it was almost missed.  
  
"...Rogue..."   
  
"John?" Rogue asked, hardly daring to hope. "John is that you?"  
  
"...what's going on? Why... why is it so quiet?" he asked. Rogue stared into his eyes, hoping against hope. It did sound like him but even so...  
  
"He's gone."  
  
"Really?" The boy asked, a smile on his face. "I... I did it."   
  
"Are you John?" Hank asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How do we know for sure though?" Hank persisted. The so called John raised a hand and placed two fingers on Rogue's cheek. She gasped, feeling the fire.  
  
"It is him." she said. John closed his eyes again and whispered something. It was so quiet that Rogue had to lean closer to hear him. He whispered again and again Rogue moved closer.  
  
Suddenly his eyes snapped open and John moved forward, catching Rogue's lips in a kiss. For a few seconds Rogue froze there before pulling away.  
  
"I always wanted to do that." John said and Rogue smiled.   
  
At that moment Bobby, Logan and Kitty all came piling into the room, all shouting at once.  
  
"John man! You're back!" Bobby called.  
  
"Looks like." John said, her eyes straying to Rogue then back to Bobby. "That is... if you lot will have me."  
  
"Of course we will, you doofus!" Kitty said, engulfing John in a bear hug. "Spark as well."  
  
Rogue couldn't believe how well things had turned out.  
  
~END~  
  
Keep an eye out for the sequel to Incendiarism, 'Fireshower', which should be posted tomorrow. I just have to spell check it.  
  
Here's the summary;  
  
"The death of an old friend results in the birth of a new enemy. Meanwhile John struggles to come to terms with his past..."  
  
Yep, John isn't out of the woods yet, he's still got a way to go yet.  
  
Please, please leave a review and keep an eye out for 'Fireshower'.  
  
~Sethoz 


End file.
